East Baton Rouge Parish is helping bridge the gap between hearing and deaf communities through a new American Sign Language program.

The library’s “Signing Together” class is an eight week course designed to give participants face to face instruction and direct interaction with the members of the Deaf community. The program is offered in partnership with the Louisiana Association of the Deaf.

Megan Pugh, who works in community programming at the library, said the idea grew out of a desire to expand language access beyond online resources.

“We have online tools that focus on sign language, but we weren’t offering anything live or in person,” Pugh said. “The whole idea behind it is bringing the Deaf community into the library to share sign language and provide more access to language for people who don’t speak sign language.”

The course began in January and is capped at 30 participants to keep the class manageable. Interest has exceeded expectations, with more than 100 people inquiring about future sessions. The next round of classes is expected to begin in April.

Jay Isch, executive director of the Louisiana Association of the Deaf, said the organization was founded in 1908 and works to preserve and promote the language rights of Deaf people across the state.

“We believe in spreading language and exposure to the language,” Isch said.

Isch says that American Sign Language is a complete language with its own grammar and structure.

“Imagine a world where everyone knows ASL and we could just communicate fluidly,” he said. “It would be beautiful.”

Organizers say they are exploring grant opportunities to expand the program to additional library branches and offer more classes in the future.